A jury at Sheffield Crown Court was told at the start of his trial Mr Litchfield inflicted fatal knife wounds on his brother in 1996 at the same block of flats in Cambridge Street, west Hull, where he and his mother live.

Police at the scene of an incident close to Danny's Dream Club on Walker Street, west Hull

The court heard Mr Litchfield twice armed himself with knives from his flat and took them into the street after violence flared when he claimed two cans of strong Karpackie lager and a packet of tobacco were stolen from him while he was drinking with the group.

The complainant needed life-saving surgery after suffering five knife wounds, including a “major” injury to his abdomen which penetrated his liver, two “deep slashes” to his arm and two wounds to his torso.

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A second man – who Mr Litchfield described as “a bit of a thug” - was also hurt, which Mr Litchfield said may have happened when he ran onto his knife while he was chasing him after the other man was injured.

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Mr Goldsack said: “Unfortunately, Mr Litchfield, you have done that again. You have got drunk, you have got angry, you have armed yourself and you have harmed somebody quite deliberately.”

“I haven’t,” said Mr Litchfield.

Police at the scene of an incident close to Danny's Dream Club on Walker Street, west Hull

Earlier, he told Steven Garth, defending, that when he “stepped forward” to complain about the theft of his alcohol and tobacco, he was punched between three and five times to the head, which made him “stagger” so he went home.

Then, realising he had left his dog, he armed himself “for protection” with a “potato peeler” and went back out to look for the dog.

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Mr Litchfield said there was further trouble with the two men when he was hit in the face with a full can of lager, knocking him onto a flower bed, and the knife was taken from him.

He said he later needed 20 stitches to a wound over his eye.

Crime scene in Walker Street

He returned home but realised he still did not have his dog, so “I decided to arm myself with slightly larger knives and go back again”.

Mr Litchfield said he “held them up” to show he had the knives, but still ended up in a scuffle with the men in a wooded area, and said the most seriously injured man may have been accidentally stabbed by the other while he was trying to stab Mr Litchfield.